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San Diego CA: BAE Systems has been selected to produce electronic attack pod testing equipment to protect U.S. Air Force F-15, F-16, and A-10 aircraft.
The $3.3 million contract for the Electronic Attack Improved Avionics Intermediate Shop (EA-IAIS) transitions a full-scale development tester to a production-ready station to test ALQ-131 and ALQ-184 electronic attack pods.
The pods provide self-protection for combat aircraft and aircrews against radio frequency threats such as radar-guided missiles. The countermeasure pods can selectively direct high-power jamming against RF emitters, effectively blinding or spoofing an enemy's targeting abilities.
EA-IAIS is a portable tester designed for rapid deployment. The tester helps provide fast-turnaround repairs of electronic warfare pods and supports fuller mission capability for the combat aircraft. It employs state-of-the-art synthetic instruments integrated with advanced electronic warfare technology for radio frequency spectrum analysis and responses.
The Air Force's Electronic Attack pod sustainment organization at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga., selected EA-IAIS as the common tester to replace two obsolete legacy pod testers.
“This award is the result of six years of planning and development effort with the Air Force,” said Anthony Porter, BAE Systems' automatic test systems program manager in San Diego. “The EA-IAIS builds on BAE Systems' proven Improved Avionics Intermediate Shop series of testers (already in the Air Force's inventory) to meet the service's goal of a common tester for different platforms.”
The work will be performed at BAE Systems' San Diego facility through 2008. The next phase of the program will be production of up to 100 pod testers.
